Bangladesh's longest-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed began her political career as a pro-democracy icon, but fled mass protests against her rule in August 2024 after 15 years in power.
Since then, Hasina has been in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled after being deposed by a student-led uprising which spiraled into nationwide unrest. On 17 November, a special tribunal in Dhaka sentenced her to death after convicting her of crimes against humanity. It was found Hasina had ordered a deadly crackdown on protesters between 15 July and 5 August 2024. She denied all charges against her.
Up to 1,400 people were killed during the weeks of protests leading up to her ousting, most by gunfire from security forces, according to UN human rights investigators. Their report found that she and her government had tried to cling to power using systematic, deadly violence against protesters.
The protests brought an unexpected end to the reign of Hasina, who had governed Bangladesh for more than 20 years. She and her Awami League party were credited with overseeing the South Asian country's economic progress. But in recent years, she was accused of turning autocratic and clamping down on any opposition to her rule.
Politically motivated arrests, disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and other abuses all rose under her rule.
An order to 'use lethal weapons'
In January 2024, Hasina won an unprecedented fourth term as prime minister in an election widely decried by critics as a sham and boycotted by the main opposition. Protests began later that year with a demand to abolish quotas in civil service jobs. By summer, they had morphed into a wider anti-government movement as she used the police to violently crack down on protesters.
Amid increasing calls for her to resign, Hasina remained defiant, condemning the agitators as “terrorists.” She also jailed hundreds of people and brought criminal charges against numerous others.
A leaked audio clip suggested she had ordered security forces to 'use lethal weapons' against protesters, which she denies. Some of the bloodiest incidents occurred on 5 August, the day Hasina fled by helicopter before crowds stormed her residence in Dhaka.
How did Sheikh Hasina come to power?
Born to a Muslim family in East Bengal in 1947, Hasina had politics in her blood. Her father was the nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's "Father of the Nation." She was first elected to power in 1996 and was credited for several significant policies but faced allegations of corruption and favoritism towards India.
Achievements and controversies
Success marked Hasina's leadership from 2009 onward, with Bangladesh achieving credible economic progress, tripling its per capita income over the last decade. However, accusations against her administration for human rights abuses and political repression overshadow these advancements.
With inflation soaring and foreign exchange reserves dwindling, critics argue that Bangladesh's growth benefited only those close to her, leading to large-scale unrest. Despite her initial role as a champion of democracy, Hasina's legacy is now caught in a tangled balance of economic success against the backdrop of significant political turmoil.
